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Blue Halal Cart Fries Their Falafel Fresh to Order

A while back I had tried the Blue Halal Cart on the SE corner of 46th St and 3rd Ave and found their hot sauce to be quite spicy. I haven’t been back since (there’s just too much good street meat to eat in the area!) but was always happy to see a long line of people getting their lunch from this cart. So the other day when I was craving the flavors of street meat I though it might be a good time for a return visit. There was just one problem though. It was Monday and I have been trying to be good about doing the “Meatless Monday” thing (I know..I know I should get my ass kicked.) So how does one get the flavors of street meat over rice and not get the street meat? It’s actually quite easy, get the falafel over rice combo- which the Blue Halal Cart happens to fry fresh to order.

Nothing can really compare to freshly fried falafels and for $5 you get 7 falafels. This time around I went light on the hot sauce. The falafel were light with a great outer crunchy crust. They may not be the only cart that does this but they are the first cart I’ve noticed. And they were super polite and apologetic about having me wait while they fried those bad boys. I definitely do not mind eating this every Monday (or even every Tuesday or maybe even every Wednesday but that’s pushing it).

Even though I know I will never give up meat, sometimes it’s just nice to eat more vegetables (only if they’re fried of course). Obviously now that the King of Falafel has a cart in Midtown, that is where you should go for delicious (oval shaped) falafel. Freddy is called the king for a reason, but if you find yourself a bit farther south you could do a lot worse than the Blue Halal Cart.

The cart on the SE corner of 40th and Broadway (I think it is La Bagutte?) fries the Falafel to order as well, for those closer to the South end of Midtown. That’s where I usually go to get my street meat falafel fix.

Freddy, King of Falafel, fries nearly to order, which speeds the process considerably. Considering how quickly he goes through them – and the commendable practice of handing out freshly-fried ones to the people in line – it’s close enough, and they’re always hot when they’re served.

The worst falafel I’ve ever had was from a generic cart up near Columbia University. I knew I was in trouble when he used the grill to heat up the falafel. More trouble when I asked for Tahini and he only had white sauce or hot sauce. Fresh frying was not an option since there was no fryer in the cart. It was a generic coffee/donut cart with a small grill for chicken/ rice and grilled falafel. Plain nasty.

Hot sauce is good, chicken and lamb are both very good as is the falafel.

I wish they gave me more hot sauce and less rice. They served me so quick I didn’t have a chance to tell them no salad before my platter was ready. Also, my balls were not prepared to order but they were still very good.